Airborne SUV crashes into front of home

Banner Graphic/Jared Jernagan Heavy damage mars the front of the Betty Bruner home at 501 W. Washington St. following a Saturday morning crash. George Gjesvold suffered a medical issue prior to losing control of his SUV.

A Greencastle woman and her dog escaped unscathed when an SUV crashed into her west side home Saturday morning.

The front porch of her 501 W. Washington St. home wasn’t quite so lucky.

At approximately 10 a.m., Betty Bruner and Ruben, her pet Maltese, were sitting in the living room of the historic home when the peaceful morning was suddenly shattered.

“We were sitting in our recliner, across on the other side of the room, thank goodness,” Bruner said.

That’s when 75-year-old George Gjesvold crashed his Jeep SUV into the front of the house.

“All at once, I had glass coming in on me. The window just exploded. I had plaster falling,” Bruner said. “I thought, ‘What in world?’ The footrest was up on the recliner, but let me tell you, you can get out of that recliner with the footrest up.”

However, Gjesvold’s vehicle did not simply crash into the front of the house.

Rather, an apparent medical problem made the driver black out. He told authorities the last thing he remembered was going through the stoplight at Washington and Jackson streets, three blocks uphill from the incident.

Somehow continuing straight downhill without running off the road or hitting parked cars, Gjesvold proceeded through the T-intersection at the end of Washington Street at an estimated 50-60 mph and plowed into the embankment at the end of Bruner’s yard.

The embankment acted as a ramp, sending the vehicle into the air, where it took out three limbs of Bruner’s tree before hitting the house between the first and second floors.

“I had glass all in the living room down here. He hit the house in between the floors,” Bruner said.

The impact demolished the north end of the front porch, broke windows on the first and second floor and bowed the solid brick front wall of the house.

Dirt from the yard even ended up on the floor and bed of the second-floor room.

Greencastle Police Officer Kyle Lee said the vehicle was a total loss. The extent of damage to the house remains undetermined.

Gjesvold was not cited in the incident. Instead, Operation Life transported him to the hospital, where he remained Sunday evening.

Following the crash, Bruner opened the front porch door but did not venture onto the porch. Instead, she called the authorities who arrived a short time later.

The Greencastle Fire Department also responded.

Built in 1830, the walls of the house are solid brick with no framing. Besides damage to the porch, bricks and window, plaster fell from the inside wall.

“I don’t know how we’ll ever get it repaired,” Bruner said.

The house has a Washington Street address even though it is situated along Gillespie Street. Washington actually ends directly in front of the house.

Even in the face of extensive repairs, Bruner was smiling about it by Sunday, glad that she and Ruben made it out unhurt.

“It was weird,” she said. “I couldn’t imagine what was happening.”